3 Ways to Give New Years Resolutions More Meaning and Effectiveness

By James Schmachtenberger

The new year has traditionally marked a date where resolutions are proclaimed, giving us cause for new beginnings and new commitments. The premise is a valuable one, but how we approach New Year's resolutions can be the difference between a brief abstention of a bad habit and a date that marks the beginning of a full-fledged life transformation.

If youre an entrepreneur seeking to increase your effectiveness in 2018 or just seeking the bandwidth to enter entrepreneurialism, here are a few ways to mark a legitimate new beginning in the quality of your life and your capacity to lead a business.

Make Resolutions a Comprehensive and Communal Activity

Many of us commit ourselves to breaking a bad habit but dont even notify our closest friends and family, who then place us in environments that tempt the habit. Additionally, we often commit to breaking a habit without addressing the underlying causes that lead to it.

Heres a better way. I host a yearly event for close friends and family who want real change in their lives for the upcoming year. I start off by assessing how everyone feels in relation to each other so any lingering discord can firstly be talked through and alleviated between all attending. Then, each person shares their broadest life goals for the new year in categories such as self-care, career, finances and relationships. Determine realistic goals in each category that are achievable, so you approach the new year with an attainable agenda that values balance in these focuses. Those closest to you then know what youre aiming to do with your year, so they are better equipped to provide environments and outreach to assist you.

Disrupt Your Mindset to Stop Bad Habits

I have been passionate about environmental and animal rights issues for my entire adult life and had been a committed vegetarian for a long time. But I didnt realize the cruelty inflicted on animals in the dairy industry. When I became aware of this, I committed to veganism. This was hard for me due to a lifelong love of cheese. When I couldnt bring myself to permanently give up dairy products after several attempts, I forced myself to watch a large number of PETA videos showing the brutality inflicted on cattle in the dairy industry to intentionally traumatize my minds association with cheese. It worked, and Im now a committed vegan. If you genuinely want to stop engaging in a bad habit or practice, it may require disrupting your mental associations enough that you can no longer subconsciously associate the action with positive emotions.

Self-Care Underlies All Other Resolutions

Regardless of your resolutions, achieving them depends on willpower and emotional strength. And those traits are hard to maintain if you arent taking care of your body and mind with proper sleep, diet and exercise. Lofty ambitions are not an intelligent excuse for pulling all-nighters or living off junk food. Arianna Huffington is one of the most successful media moguls in the world, but she is committed to the practice of shutting her phone down midway through each evening until the following morning. Shes found that over time, this doesnt lessen her productivity but actually increases it by affording her the mental and physical restoration needed to attack each day at full capacity. Working 18 hour days seven days a week isnt a sign of being a great entrepreneur. Its an unsustainable formula that leads to burnout. Mature entrepreneurialism requires viewing your health, sleep and periodic relaxation as job responsibilities. Those same priorities underlie sustained success with virtually any goal or resolution.

The line between the person you want to be and the business you want to lead is deeply interconnected. Jumpstart the potential of your business in 2018 by upgrading New Years resolutions with approaches that sustain life improvements over the long haul.

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James Schmachtenberger is co-founder of Neurohacker Collective , an organization focused on creating products to enhance human well-being.